BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Blast scored four second half goals to claim an 8-6 victory against the Missouri Comets in Game 2 of the MISL Championship Series on Saturday night at 1st Mariner Arena, giving the Blast a 2-0 series victory and their seventh MISL Championship. Blast goalkeeper William Vanzela claimed Most Valuable Player honors for the series, as he finished with 30 saves in two games to key Baltimore’s pair of victories.

The Blast trailed Missouri 4-0 at the halftime break, with Byron Alvarez scoring both goals for the Comets and Danny Waltman making eight saves to keep Baltimore off the scoreboard. The Blast finally broke through three minutes, 44 seconds into the third, as Max Ferdinand scored a spectacular power play goal to reduce the deficit to two. Baltimore then drew even, again on the power play, as Tony Donatelli stole in to score his fourth goal of the series, firing home a low cross by Ferdinand to make it 4-4 at the end of the third quarter.

Baltimore took its first lead of the night four minutes into the fourth quarter, Adriano Dos Santos finding the back of the net, and the Blast were able to bolster their lead with a spectacular bicycle kick finish by All-Rookie Team selection Lucas Roque as he controlled his effort after a shot off the end boards by Chris Williams.

Missouri kept its hopes of forcing overtime, and potentially a Game 3 mini-game alive with 5:39 to play as Alvarez completed his hat trick. The Blast’s defense, led by MISL Defender of the Year Mike Lookingland, limited their opportunities in the final five minutes, however, and Vanzela finished with 12 saves as Baltimore claimed its first title since 2009.

After falling 21-12 on Thursday night, Missouri had got off to an ideal start. Following a tense opening, the Comets finally took the lead with 5:02 to play in the first quarter as they caught the Blast on a counter-attack, Alvarez finishing from the left after being found by Cristiano as Missouri held a 2-0 lead after 15 minutes.

Missouri goalkeeper Danny Waltman then had a standout second quarter, keeping the Blast off the board with a number of outstanding saves. The Comets were also able to double their lead, with Byron Alvarez converting a shootout opportunity after Robert Palmer had been brought down on a breakaway by Ferdinand.

Led by Lucio Gonzaga, the Blast defeated the Syracuse Silver Knights, 27-13, Sunday afternoon to improve to 14-4 on the season. Eight Baltimore players scored in the win including three goals from Gonzaga and two each from Machel Millwood and Adriano Dos Santos.

The Blast came out fast, scoring four goals in the first four minutes of the game to take an early 8-0 lead. J.T. Noone extended the lead to 10-0 before the Silver Knights’ Andriy Budnyy got Syracuse on the scoreboard with a three-point goal. Syracuse’s Neto scored a power play goal to end the first quarter and cut the Blast lead to 10-5. Baltimore’s team captain, Mike Lookingland, opened the scoring just 48 seconds into the match and Millwood, Ptah Myers and Gonzaga followed suit in the next three minutes.

The teams played more than 14 scoreless minutes in the second quarter before Tony Donatelli extended the Blast lead to 12-5 just 23 seconds before halftime.

The third and fourth quarters were similar to the first with the Blast surging ahead with goal after goal. Baltimore opened the second half with four quick, the first coming from Dos Santos at 2:35. Millwood and Gonzaga each added their second goals of the game and rookie Marco Mangione scored a three-pointer to give the Blast a 21-5 lead after just six minutes. Syracuse’s Neto scored his second goal of the game, with just seconds to go in the quarter, to cut the Blast lead to 21-7.

The teams combined for six goals in the final quarter with Silver Knights adding five quick points to cut the Blast lead to 21-11. Dos Santos and Max Ferdinand scored the next two goals and Gonzaga completed his hat trick in the 10th minute.

The Blast will return to 1st Mariner Arena Friday night to host the Rochester Lancers and Saturday night to host the Missouri Comets. Friday night fans will be treated to a FREE post-game concert by Thousand Foot Krutch.MISLNation
Every MISL game this season can be seen live on the Internet at www.MISLNation.com.
Upcoming Games
Friday, January 25 vs. Rochester Lancers – FREE post-game concert featuring Thousand Foot Krutch
Saturday, January 26 vs. Missouri Comets